part of the so-called fiscal cliff. former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, admiral mike mullen, was joined by the chairmen of the senate house armed services committee. this is a little less than an hour. >> good afternoon. thank you for coming. my name is. peter:rerson -- peterson. i want to give you, first, a review of our foundation and why we are supporting the project you're going to hear about today. starting about 30 years ago after studying the profound demographic trends and the vast and unfunded promises that we had made, i decided that our projected long-term -- and i emphasize long-term debts -- were not only unsustainable, but a primary threat to our future. speaking of unsustainable, in the nixon white house in which i served, herb stein was chairman of the council of economic advisers, and he used to say if something's unsustainable, he said it tends to stop. or he said if you don't like that, if your horse dies, i suggest you dismount. well, i think we've been behaving as though we can ride this d